Natural Inks with Amanda Thesiger

What to expect

We are delighted that Amanda Thesiger has agreed to return this year to run this workshop with us. Amanda is a wonderful artist and teacher who will introduce you to the magic of making and experimenting with natural inks. Unleash your inner alchemist and stir up creativity through ink-making! What you can expect - Day 1: - Learn some of the processes of ink-making, from preparation, to extracting colour, to preserving your inks and ways of working with them - Discover some of the historical/cultural significance of some natural inks - Explore a variety of tactile natural materials, such as plants, galls, earth pigments, berries, and minerals, and their hidden colour potential Day 2: Inks are great for diluting and expressing tonal variety. Using either oak gall or black walnut ink that you have made - and weather permitting - you will make quick, and longer, observational sketches of the landscape outside the studio. You will use the dip pens made from holly stems, to bring to life the fore, mid and backgrounds that you can see. If the weather isn’t suitable for outdoor working, you will be able to work indoors, making some quick sketches as warmups, focusing on still life with found objects foraged from the immediate area, as well as a collection of natural treasures that Amanda will bring. All sketches will be made using a range of line and wash and you will explore lots of different mark-making methods, from traditional hatching through to more spontaneous mark-making with washes, cursive strokes, dashes, dotted areas, putting tonal energy into your landscape or still life scenes. What to Bring: Sketchbook (paper will be provided), watercolour brushes, some light-toned pastel sticks or coloured pencil, e.g. greys ochres, creams, pale greens etc. Fixative. To find out more about Amanda look on our tutors page and check out her website.